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Industry Updates

This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.

Biden Administration Urged To Take More Aggressive Steps To Relieve Medical Debt

Dozens of advocates for patients and consumers, citing widespread harm caused by medical debt, are pushing the Biden administration to take more aggressive steps to protect Americans from medical bills and debt collectors. In letters to the IRS (PDF) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (PDF), the groups call for new federal rules that among other things would prohibit ...

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Cigna Hit With ERISA Class Action Lawsuit For Allegedly Overcharging Members

An ERISA class action suit has been filed against Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. in Connecticut District Court, alleging the insurer is overcharging for medical services.

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As Cyber Attacks On Health Care Soar, So Does The Cost Of Cyber Insurance

Health systems buffeted by labor and supply chain costs and broader economic woes have another unwieldy financial problem: the soaring costs of cyber insurance.

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Biden Budget Will Propose Tax Increase to Bolster Medicare

President Biden, as part of his budget set for release on Thursday, will propose raising a tax on Americans earning more than $400,000 as part of a series of efforts to extend the solvency of Medicare by a quarter-century.

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Teladoc-Owned BetterHelp To Pay $7.8M To Online Therapy Users For Alleged Data Misuse, Per FTC Order

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with online therapy company BetterHelp, which is owned by Teladoc, over allegations that it shared consumers’ health data with companies like Facebook and Snapchat for advertising purposes. As part of a proposed order announced Thursday, BetterHelp is banned from sharing consumers’ health data, including sensitive information about mental ...

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CMS: US Health Care Spending Reached $4.3 Trillion In 2021 During COVID

During the peak COVID timeframe in 2021, the U.S. spent nearly $4.3 trillion on health care. Government insurance programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, made up 42% (or a whopping $1.8 trillion of national health care spending) in 2021. That’s according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which says private insurance programs, including employer-sponsored ...

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Specialty Pharmacy Costs, Mental Health Are Top Employer Concerns. Here’s Why

Self-insured employers view the cost of specialty drugs as a major challenge in providing health benefits, according to a survey released yesterday by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH). Cheryl Larson, MBGH’s president and CEO, told Fierce Healthcare that “the new million-dollar treatments approved by the FDA; 30 of our employers said that this is a ...

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Eli Lilly To Cut Insulin Prices, Cap Costs At $35 For Many People With Diabetes

Eli Lilly announced Wednesday a series of price cuts that would lower the price of the most commonly used forms of its insulin 70% and said it will automatically cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for people who have private insurance and use participating pharmacies.

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Study: Why Employers Expect To Be Offering Health Coverage For The Long Haul

Despite rising costs, employers will continue to offer healthcare coverage to their workers, and they don’t see that ending anytime soon, if ever, according to a report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

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Thousands In Southern California Are Expected To Lose Out On Medi-Cal In April

As pandemic-era policies come to an end, tens of thousands of Southern Californians are expected to lose out on Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, come April. Experts estimate about 330,000 people in Los Angeles County and approximately 160,000 in Orange County will be ineligible for Medi-Cal in April when states resume the redetermination process. The number of ...

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